This invention relates to a lifting and moving apparatus for transporting a person with reduced mobility from one location, such as a bed or chair, to another location such as a chair or commode, and vice versa.
Hospitals, care facilities and individuals who provide care and assistance to persons with reduced mobility continue to primarily rely on physical methods for lifting a person to transfer the person from a bed to a commode or other locations and back again. Physical methods for lifting and transferring a person represent significant risks of injury to both the person being carried and the care provider. The physical demands on care providers and the daily wear and tear on their bodies may contribute to high levels of attrition of nursing staff and other care providers in the health care field and contribute to the overall shortage of such providers.
The absence of a suitable mechanical method for lifting and moving a person may also require a person to move in to care facilities, despite having a spouse, child or other at home care provider who is willing to take care of the person, but is unable to physically lift the person to transfer the person from a bed to commode or other location.
Previous efforts to provide for a mechanical method for lifting and moving persons with reduced mobility have resulted in either complicated devices that are expensive and difficult to operate or overly simplistic devices that do not provide a complete solution for lifting and moving the person. Complicated and expensive devices create a barrier for use due to budgetary or insurance restrictions and may not be suitable for operation by the person or care provider who is not trained to operate the device. Simpler devices may be operable by the person or care provider, but if multiple devices are required to perform all of the functions necessary for independent living, the resulting costs may also be prohibitive. Moreover, many lifting and transfer devices require a person to be ambulatory or have a significant degree of upper body strength to utilize the device.
Additionally, conventional attempts to provide for a mechanical device for lifting and transferring persons are not well suited to persons of varying body types. While some of the conventional devices can be adapted to be used by bariatric persons, they do not provide for a simple mechanism allowing the device to be used for large persons at one moment and then immediately used for a smaller person.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a lifting and moving apparatus for a person. The lifting and moving apparatus should be operable by trained, or untrained, care providers and enable the safe and efficient movement of a person from one location to another.